Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity

Imagine a city where gleaming buses ferry tech employees from their trendy homes to gleaming campuses miles away. On the surface, this seems like progress—innovation, jobs, prosperity. But beneath the surface, a storm brews. In 2013, residents of San Francisco’s Mission District lay down in protest, blocking these very buses. This was not just about transportation; it was about the relentless growth of an economy that seemed to favor expansion over people. We are caught in a growth trap. This trap is a silent force, a program running beneath the surface of our digital economy, compelling corporations to grow endlessly, regardless of the social costs.

These buses became symbols of a deeper problem: gentrification fueled by tech wealth, pushing out longtime residents and small businesses. Rents near bus stops were 20 percent higher, and the ripple effect spread throughout neighborhoods. Yet the tech workers on these buses were themselves caught in the same system, pressured by constant performance demands and the fear of obsolescence.

This paradox highlights a key insight: growth is not an abstract good but a driving force that shapes lives, communities, and economies. Corporations, bound by legal mandates and shareholder expectations, must increase profits and scale, often at the expense of sustainability and equity. The result is a fractured society where prosperity is unevenly distributed, and the benefits of technological innovation fail to reach many.

Understanding this growth trap is the first step toward envisioning a different economy—one where growth is not the sole measure of success, and where human well-being takes precedence. As we move forward, we will explore how digital technology both perpetuates and can potentially disrupt this cycle, offering new possibilities for a more equitable future.

Let us now delve deeper into how digital industrialism continues to remove humans from the equation, reshaping labor and value in ways that echo the industrial age but with new digital tools.